Hello All,
I'm new to this site. My Gedmatch kit # is RL048381C1. I read in another post that the following parent/grandparent/great-grandparent info was suggested to be listed:
MY PARENTS:
Father: Thomas Billy 'Tom' Gambrell, born 19 APR 1926 - no idea where our ancestors came to America from other than speculation if 'may' have been Ireland. The Gambrell name is seen with other variations - Gambrel, Gumbrel, Gamble, etc. and may not have even been the original biological name for all we know.
Mother: Roselle (she changed it to Roz) Morgan, born in 1930s, she's still alive and won't give us the exact date. lol Her Morgan line came from Glamorganshire, Wales.
I have done extensive work on my family tree for well over a decade, so I have lots of ancestral information but not so much on where my Roma / Romani ancestors came from or who they might be other than a Riggs / Holmes line from Epping Forest, Essex, UK seems one possibility. They're farther back in my tree though.
MY PATERNAL GRANDPARENTS:
Emmett Solomon Gambrell, born 27 Dec 1894
Donia Mae Windham, born 5 Jun 1893 - orginally from the Wyndham family in Norfolk, England
MY MATERNAL GRANDPARENTS:
John Tyler Morgan Sr., born 22 August 1907
Bertha McLain, born 12 March 1915 - originally from McLean clan of Isle of Skye, Scotland
MY PATERNAL GREAT-GRANDPARENTS:
Parents of my paternal grandfather:
Father: William Lawrence Gambrell, born 18 Jul 1862
Mother: Robbie Adelaide Hester, born 23 May 1865 - orginally from England
Parents of my maternal grandmother:
Father: William Willis Windham, born 17 Nov 1853
Mother: Martha Matilda Blakeney, born 18 August 1855 - from the Blakeneys of Ireland who originated in England
MY MATERNAL GREAT-GRANDPARENTS:
Parents of my maternal grandfather:
Father: George Brown Morgan, born 8 December 1888
Mother: Poline (Pauline) Sumrall, born 8 February 1890 - her Sumrall surname has many variants used among the family branches, including Summerall, Summerell, Somervaill - originally from Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Parents of my maternal grandmother:
Hillard Clarence McLain, born 19 NOV 1883
Emily Elizabeth Rigdon, born 3 JULY 1885 - Rigdon line orginally from Kent, England
Farther back up my maternal line I have ancestors from Epping Forest, Essex, England - surnames Riggs and Holmes, possible Rooke. I'm 'assuming' they were Roma / Romani, but I'd like to be more sure of that.
We show Iberian (Spanish/Portuguese) DNA and South Asian, all of which I've read might be part of our Roma / Romani ancestry. My son shows 21.8% Iberian on his My Heritage results, but we have no close Iberian ancestors. We have a lot of Native American ancestral lines on both sides of my family tree and I've been told Roma / Romani is mingled into that and their history lost as they began to identify as Native Americans, which fits with what was going on in America among ethnic groups and fits with the DNA triangulations of my cousins in America with Native American ancestry and matches from the Romany Research UK group on Facebook a few years ago.
I match the DNA in the
http://www.newforestromanygypsytraveller.co.uk/dna.php study, to one degree or another, depending on the Gedmatch settings used - 100/5 or 100/3. Also, it's interesting that there are the New Forest and Epping Forest communities in the UK and communities by the very same names in early America, to which I have connections. So, lots of clues but nothing I can nail down for sure as my Roma / Romani ancestral connections so far.
Thanks in advance for any feedback, information, etc. that might help me on my search.
Debbie Gambrell
